In this issue:

The Case of Africa: Who Is British Imperialism?

South Africa's ANC Elects Populist Jacob Zuma

From Volume 6, Issue 52 of EIR Online, Published Dec. 25, 2007
Africa News Digest

The Case of Africa: Who Is British Imperialism?

Dec. 23 (EIRNS)—Dispatches from the London Economist on the subject of the succession to South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki, warn us that Princess Diana's legacy still haunts British Africa policy today. The seemingly perpetual state of uncertainty, whether swindler Al Gore's choice, the current Prince of Wales, or a son of former Princess Diana, shall inherit the succession to the British throne, underscores the fact that a Queen, or even a King, may be the designated British monarch; but, the more essential fact remains, that it is the den of financial thieves represented by the Anglo-Dutch Liberal financier oligarchy which considers itself the real emperor of not only the British Empire as such, but the whole world, today.

The problem is that the recent decades, the current U.S. pre-presidential campaigns remind us, since the death of U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt and the assassination of President John Kennedy, have been a span of increasing mediocrity in both our pubic and private life, now reaching that state of moral as much as intellectual imbecility and outright fraud typified by computer games and Wikipedia. So, it is asked: "What is happening in Africa?" instead of how rotten are the forces now dominating what is every part of the planet considered in the large.

There is presently, one crucial problem of this planet, for which what is crucially important in any part of this planet is only a reflection. That problem is typified by the profound moral and intellectual decay pervading the planet as a whole, as a result of a neo-malthusian pestilence of lying called "globalization."

So, for example, the Anglo-Dutch Liberal financier cartel behind the imperial practices of the BAE, are launching campaigns intended to spread genocide through maximizing available options for spreading the internal conflicts within Africa, among other places.

So, in an editorial run before the recent leadership election of the African National Congress (ANC), the Dec. 15 London Economist stated that both candidates, South African President Thabo Mbeki, and ex-Vice President Jacob Zuma, were deeply flawed, and that neither should be running the ANC, or the country. "A split in the movement might be welcome," said the Economist, "because the country should be moving to a new era of pluralist democracy," and complained that many in the ANC do not see Mbeki's autocracy as bad. The Economist lamented that the favorite candidates of the British, Tokyo Sexwale and Cyril Ramaphosa (a lawyer, trade union organizer, and politician, before he turned to business) didn't have a chance because the ANC's authoritarian traditions prevented them from even being considered as candidates.

The British are not happy with the strategic role that South Africa has played in Africa. The latest example of this role was at the EU-African summit in Lisbon, where South African President Thabo Mbeki was widely recognized for playing a critical role in preventing the EU from getting African nations to agree to a free-trade agreement that would have opened them up to more looting. Peter Mandelson, the EU Trade Chief who is trying to force the free-trade agreement on the African nations, singled out Mbeki as one of the key opponents, who was influencing other African nations to oppose the EU plan. Mbeki's efforts to mediate the situation in Zimbabwe, as well as South Africa's peacekeeping interventions into other conflicts in Africa, is also not appreciated by the British and the EU more generally, as they are concerned by growing Chinese influence in Africa. If African countries are destabilized, it will be more difficult for China to increase its influence through aid to development projects, and trade.

South Africa's agreement, at the time of independence, to play by IMF rules, has now led to Mbeki's popularity falling because of continuing, or worsening poverty. Among the general population, Zuma is not so popular either. A poll cited by the Economist, indicates that half the population in the big cities in South Africa think a Zuma presidency (of South Africa) would be disastrous. In this context, the British seem to be angling for one of their favorites, Sexwale or Ramaphosa, to become the next president of South Africa.

South Africa's ANC Elects Populist Jacob Zuma

Dec. 19 (EIRNS)—Jacob Zuma was elected yesterday as next president of the South African ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC). More than 4,000 delegates began the party's five-day convention on Dec. 16. Contenders for the presidency were the sitting ANC president, Thabo Mbeki (also President of the country), and the sitting ANC deputy president, Zuma, who had been the Deputy President of the country until Mbeki fired him in 2005.

Zuma maintained that he will relieve the poverty in the country. However, prior to the ANC convention, he spent ten days in India, Britain, and the United States, reassuring financiers that South Africa's policies would not change. He has the support of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the South African Communist Party, but he also has Tokyo Sexwale (pronounced "Schwaleh") appearing on platforms with him. Sexwale, who had been imprisoned during Apartheid, now a multi-millionaire, is on the advisory board of Wingate Capital, which is linked to the huge bribery scandal of BAE Systems, the British arms firm. He is also on the international advisory board of JP Morgan Chase & Co.

Zuma is now positioned to become the ANC candidate for President in 2009—unless he is re-indicted and convicted of corruption in the South African arms procurement scandal. One of his associates has already been convicted of taking bribes from a French arms company.

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